【推荐1】Ship tourism to Antarctica is on the rise: More than 35,000 tourists are expected to visit Antarctic this summer. In 1992-1993, 6,750 visited Antarctica, according to the Antarctica Treaty. All of this tourism, however, is putting both tourists and the environment in great danger.

Among the tourist ships that visit the continent, the Explorer, a Canadian ship, was one of the first. Put to use in 1969, it was built to carry tourists to Antarctica. Last week, however, it became the first commercial passenger ship to sink beneath the waters. Fortunately, all of the passengers and crew members were rescued from the ship. However, the sunken ship endangered the Antarctic’s fragile(脆弱的) environment. The ship was estimated to be holding 48,000 gallons of fuel.

The accident was not unexpected. Both the US and UK had warned a conference of the Antarctic Treaty member countries in May that the tourism situation in this area was a potential disaster. The US said in a paper, people “should take a hard look at tourism issues now, especially those related to ship safety.” Although the Antarctic seas are relatively calm, floating ice causes a potential threat to ships. The owner of the Explorer blamed the sinking on a fist-like hole in the ship created by ice.

Many of the other large ships now visiting Antarctica are not designed especially against thick ice. Such ships generally can only come to the continent in summer. But the tourist rush is pushing ships into dangerous situations. “The increasing number of ships operating in Antarctic means that the ship are under great pressure to get there in time for the key visiting sites,” the British government wrote in a paper at the meeting of member countries.

As a natural frontier, Antarctica is in a messy legal situation. There are no obvious answers as to who is responsible for dealing with the threat that tourist may cause to human life and the environment.

There is no coast guard for Antarctica. Do we want it to become Disneyland, or do we need some controls?

1. Which of the following is true according to this passage?

A．Antarctica tourism has a history of about 17 years.

B．The number of tourists to the Antarctic is over 5 times as large as that of 17 years ago.

C．The tourism boom has caused holes in the floating ice in the Antarctic.

D．The Antarctica Treaty is responsible for the environmental problems.

2. The sinking of the Explorer____________.

A．led to a conference about the tourism situation in the Antarctic.

B．was caused by the rough seas

C．had been predicted

D．did harm to the Antarctic.

3. In this passage, the writer suggests that___________.

A．people had better not make a tour of the Antarctic

B．ships to the Antarctic should be built strong enough

C．there should be legal controls over tourism in the Antarctic

D．the Antarctic’s environment is fragile to be protected

【推荐2】Politicians and officials across the world — at local, regional (区域性的) and national level — have been coming up with new ideas to reduce air pollution. More recently, some have pointed the finger at countryside “contributions” to air pollution in the developing world, especially in India and China. During Diwali celebrations at the end of October last year, New Delhi’s pollution level was off the charts, cementing (巩固) the Indian capital’s status as the world’s most polluted large city and causing a nationwide debate on India’s killing smog (雾霾).

Official data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee showed dangerous levels of smog, with concentrations (浓度) of both PM2.5 and PM10 hitting levels more than 30 times the World Health Organization’s recommended 24 hour average limit. Over the last few years India has held many conferences and workshops to find a solution to the smog. A regional approach is the most common suggestion to have appeared from these conferences, but the situation on the ground has not changed. In fact, it is getting worse with each passing year.

India has more than 100 coal-based power factories with old technology, with burning of crop remains adding to the emissions (排放物). And New Delhi’s grievous pollution is the result of a harmful mixture of emissions from vehicles and coal-fired power factories, fumes (烟) from cooking stoves and crop-burning in neighboring provinces. In Beijing, where air pollution is being treated as a health emergency, the government can order cars off the road and shut down schools and industries if particulates (微粒) threaten to rise to the highest WHO level — New Delhi’s level of pollution is unimaginable in Beijing.

North China, which battles smog in the winter, also has the problem of crop burning. Some local governments in China are punishing farmers who burn their crop remains and thus contributes to the air pollution in nearby cities. The problem is, farmers often burn crop remains as it is the only way to treat remains, and they have to burn coals to keep warm during the freezing winter in North China because they lack other means of heating.

Some will say this reflects elements of unbalanced economic development and the unfairness between countryside and urban areas is at the heart of the issue. Many people ask what options farmers have to keep themselves warm in the winter except by burning crop remains. Ideally, they should be provided with alternative energy sources, solar power or natural gas for example, to keep their homes warm in the freezing winter.

This can be achieved by China without much difficulty, because the country leads the world in investment in renewable energy. The plan, however, needs to be targeted at countryside farmers if we want them to stop adding to the air pollution of cities. Such a development is something I look forward to during my visits to China.

1. What can we know about Indian measures to reduce pollution?

A．The Indian regional approach has great effect on smog.

B．Indians tried their best to reduce pollution effectively.

C．India did nothing to find a solution to the smog.

D．The Indian regional approach has no effect on smog.

2. Which of the following statements about India is Not true?

A．It has many coal-based power factories with old technology.

B．A harmful mixture of emissions leads to New Delhi’s serious pollution.

C．Burning is one way for coal-based power factories to deal with crop remains.

D．The government can order cars off the road if particulates threaten to rise too high.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．New Delhi’s celebrations caused Indian discussion on pollution.

B．New Delhi’s pollution level has made Indians know its damage.

C．Pollution created by crop burning is not a problem unique to India.

D．Farmers can burn crop remains to keep warm around the world.

4. What advice does the author give to the government?

A．The government should develop urban areas firstly.

B．The government should force farmers to use solar power.

C．The government should permit farmers to burn crop remains.

D．The government should do more for countryside development.

【推荐3】The loud continuous noise of the cars or the sound of a plane can force its way into the deepest forest, yet it’s not only humans that are bothered by the noise.

Bioacoustician Bernie Krause has been studying the effect of noise pollution on wildlife, and has come across some interesting behaviors, especially among animals that communicate by vocalization（发声）, like humans. Birds use sound to communicate, but in noisy places, these animals have to shout over the natural noise to be heard.

Krause mentions a study of nightingales to clarify what he means. The birds responded to traffic noise by singing louder and louder until they actually went beyond noise pollution standards in the city. To belt out (sing loudly) their songs, they increased their lung pressure fivefold, but scientists state that this is not dangerous for the birds themselves.

Studies show that sudden noise can cause certain birds to leave their nests, exposing the young to their enemies. One study also showed that songbirds that nested close to busy motorways were much less productive than those that nested farther away. Mammals（哺乳动物）too are affected. A recent study showed that nursing caribou responded to plane noise by not producing enough milk to feed their young.

In some cases noise pollution can actually help some animals while harming others. Toads（蟾蜍）and frogs are known to vocalize in synchrony（同步；同步方式）so that no predator (their enemies) can zero in on them. Krause found that when planes flew overhead and disturbed the toad’s song, they lost their synchronicity, and it took them 45 minutes to get it back again. That gave their natural enemies plenty of time to find and catch individual toads by sound.

According to Kruse, “Not only will noise pollution bother wildlife, but it won’t help our lives either.”

1. How do young caribou suffer from aircraft noise?

A．They receive less food.	B．They can’t sleep at night.
C．They are often displaced.	D．They can’t hear their mothers.

2. What would happen if toads and frogs failed to sing in union?

A．They might become defenseless.

B．They would stop communicating.

C．They would soon regain their rhythm.

D．They might ne unable to hunt in groups.

3. What is the text mainly about?

A．The effects of noise pollution on wildlife.

B．The causes of noise pollution.

C．Animals’ reaction to noises.

D．The ways animals communicate with each other.

【推荐2】If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be? Would you want to fly or be invisible? Or, perhaps, you’d rather have the power to read minds? Wouldn’t that be cool?

Reading minds is not as far-fetched as you might think. In fact, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a wearable device that can actually express a person’s thoughts and allow them to talk to a computer-without anyone else hearing.

The device, called AlterEgo, allows a person to control a computer and ask it questions without ever saying one word. When the individual wearing the device thinks of a word or a phrase but does not speak it, AlterEgo picks up the neuromuscular (神经肌肉) signals in that person’s jaw and face. AlterEgo sends those signals to a computer, which is programmed to associate them with specific words.

The device is fairly accurate. Inal0-person trial, AlterEgo had a92percent transcription (转录) accuracy. Researchers say that number will increase over time. “Our idea was: Could we have a computing platform that’s more internal, that combines human and machine in some ways and that feels like an internal extension of our own thoughts?” Arnav Kapur, a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab said.

So what effect could this have on communication? AlterEgo can change the way humans interact with computers, allowing us to silently connect with AI assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant or Apple’s Siri without anyone knowing. If a person is having a conversation and wants to look up a bit of information, they don’t have to take out their digital device; instead they can just think of the question. AlterEgo will answer without interrupting the conversation. The device can also help people communicate in noisy situations, such as on a factory floor in the airport.

1. Why are the questions raised in paragraph 1?

A．To ask readers for their opinions.	B．To introduce the topic of the passage.
C．To inspire readers’ imagination.	D．To show the author’s curiosity.

2. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．The questions.

B．The computers.

C．The signals.

D．The words.

3. What influence will AlterEgo have on people’s communication?

A．People can apply AI assistants skillfully.

B．People will make good mind-readers.

C．People no longer need mobile phones.

D．People can communicate more smoothly.

4. Which of the following can be a suitable title for the text’?

A．AlterEgo Frees People of Thinking.	B．Wearable Device Controls Computer.
C．Silent Reader of Your Mind Comes True.	D．Communication Is Easy with AI Assistants.

【推荐3】Taking good care of your teeth may be linked to better brain health, according to a study published in the July 5, 2023, online issue of Neurology. “Our study found that gum (牙龈) disease and tooth loss were linked to brain shrinkage (萎缩) in the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory and Alzheimer’s disease,” said study author Satoshi Yamaguchi, Ph.D., DDS (牙医外科博士) , of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.

The study involved 172 people with an average age of 67 without memory problems. Participants had dental exams and took memory tests at the beginning of the study. They also had brain scans to measure the volume of the hippocampus at the beginning of the study and again four years later. For each participant, researchers counted the number of teeth and checked the amount of gum disease.

Researchers found that the number of teeth and amount of gum disease was linked to changes in the left hippocampus of the brain. For people with mild gum disease, having fewer teeth was associated with a faster rate of brain shrinkage, which is the same for people with severe gum disease having more teeth. After adjusting for age, researchers found that for people with mild gum disease, the increase in the rate of brain shrinkage due to one less tooth was equal to nearly one year of brain aging. Conversely, for people with severe gum disease, the increase in brain shrinkage due to one more tooth was equal to 1.3 years of brain aging.

“These results highlight the importance of preserving the health of the teeth and not just maintaining the teeth,” Yamaguchi said. “The findings suggest that controlling the progression of gum disease through regular dental visits is crucial, and that teeth with severe gum disease may need to be removed and replaced with appropriate prosthetic ones.”

Yamaguchi said future studies are needed with larger groups of people. Another limitation of the study is that it was conducted in one region of Japan, so the results may not be generalizable to other locations.

1. What is Yamaguchi’s study mainly about?

A．The reason for gum disease.	B．The influence of brain shrinkage.
C．The advances in memory improvement.	D．The connection between teeth and brain.

2. How does the author present the research result?

A．By making a comparison.	B．By giving an explanation.
C．By quoting some experts.	D．By listing some examples.

3. What does Yamaguchi think of the research result?

A．It was unreliable.	B．It was changeable.
C．It was meaningful.	D．It was unexpected.

4. What will the future studies most probably involve according to the last paragraph?

A．The potential application in related fields.

B．The broader participation from other places.

C．The more practical methods of preserving teeth.

D．The useful suggestions for preventing brain disease.

【推荐1】The day will come when renewable energy such as wind, solar, geothermal and others replace fossil fuels as the major source of world energy. However, most analysts insist that this day will not arrive for many decades to come — certainly well past the middle of the century. Systems of fossil fuels have already been firmly set up, and it is too costly or impractical to replace the existing systems with renewables. But there are good reasons to believe that the transition (转变) to renewables will come much faster than previously thought.

It is hardly surprising that many experts say we will see a relatively slow transition from fossil fuels to renewables, given what is known about previous energy changes of this sort. “Energy transitions take a long time,” observed Vaclav Smil of the University of Manitoba. It took more than 50 years for coal to replace wood as the world’s leading source of energy and another 50 years for oil to replace coal; the change from fossil fuels to renewables, he argued, is not likely to come any faster.

Under ordinary circumstances, Smil’s forecast would no doubt prove accurate. But these are not ordinary times. Growing concern over climate change is leading to increasingly strict controls on CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (排放), while the development in renewables technology is lowering their price and speeding their installation (安装).

There are, of course, many difficulties in the effective control of carbon emissions, as demonstrated by coal companies to block the introduction of new rules by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Nevertheless, it is impossible to take no notice of the progress being made at the local and international levels to promote the use of renewables. The European Union (E.U.), for example, is well on the way to achieving a 20% reduction in GHG emissions from 1990 levels by 2025, along with a 20%increase in the use of renewable energy.

The transition to renewables will be faster due to dramatic US improvements in the pricing and performance of such systems. As a result of the steady increases in the efficiency of wind and solar systems, together with the savings achieved through large- scale manufacture, the price of renewables is falling globally. With prices dropping this fast, solar energy is now proving competitive with fossil fuels for generating electricity in many areas.

The change from fossil fuels to renewable energy will not come overnight, and it will not escape many setbacks. Nevertheless, renewables are likely to replace fossil fuels as the main source of electrical power well before mid-century.

1. Vaclav Smil believes that ________.

A．renewable energies are not very practical

B．the change to renewables will come slowly

C．systems of fossil fuels have been firmly set up

D．there are many setbacks of renewable energies

2. We can learn from the passage that European Union ________.

A．has cut down half of the carbon emissions

B．has failed to find a way to reduce GHG emissions

C．is trying its best to encourage the use of renewables

D．tries to stop the introduction of new rules on renewables

3. The renewables are more competitive because of ________.

A．their falling prices	B．the decline in the coal industry
C．international trade	D．the new rules on CO2 emission

4. According to the passage, ________.

A．Smil’s forecast has proved to be inaccurate in all situations

B．Renewable energy serves as a major source of energy in today’s world

C．Companies supported the rules made by US Environmental Protection Agency

D．There has been a steady improvement in the efficiency of wind and solar systems

5. The author writes this passage in order to ________.

A．call on people to use fewer fossil fuels

B．give advice on how to promote renewables

C．argue that the energy transition will come sooner

D．prove that renewables will be the major source of energy

【推荐3】I remember my childhood summers fondly, as many of us do. Those golden days in which I would leave the house after a still sleepy, leisurely breakfast and come home only for lunch in the middle of a day spent entirely outdoors. We did not live in town and, thus, playmates were limited to siblings (兄弟姐妹) and the cousins who lived down the road.

Our backyard became the playground in which our imaginations would run wild — turning those few acres into magical forests, the creek (小溪) into a violent river and our trusty dog, Rex, into the many roles of horse, monster and any other creature that we children did not want to play. By the end of the three months of summer break we were sunburned from our hours in the sun, full of the memories of a thousand magical moments and bonded to our siblings in a way that winter’s forced hibernation (冬眠) never seemed to connect us.

Today, I live on the same acreage that I did as a child. My children have the blessing of having the same grassy patches to scratch their bare feet as they run through it, the same creek to stomp(跺脚)through, and not the same dog — but their very own energetic pup to imagine away the days with.

However, this is not the same world as it was twenty, thirty years ago. There are screens everywhere in the house to demand attention — televisions with hundreds of channels, computers with access to a thousand entertaining sites, tablets stocked with apps. There is also no longer the expectation of a stretch of an unscheduled three months. Their school friends tell competitive stories of carefully planned vacations, spending time traveling to all of the local attractions — various parks, the zoo, the science center, all of the festivals which come breezing through town. On the very first day of school they will be asked to list their favorite activities of the summer and no longer are these lists filled with things like finding wood to make a bridge over a creek or a day spent in imaginative play with their siblings. The lists are now full of trips, overscheduled days and ＂camps＂ that no longer offer a stay in nature.

Our children have become used to being entertained every minute. In our house, we have limits on electronics and kick the kids outside on a nice day. Even as we try as parents to set limits and get our children out in nature, the new cry of childhood seems to be ＂I’m bored,＂ which is not really just meaning ＂I’m bored,＂ ＂but ＂Please find something to entertain me, as I no longer can entertain myself even for a short period of time.＂ Our children no longer know how to sit in silence, entertain themselves while even waiting for a few minutes and have lost the awe of nature as they have become addicted to screen time.

We have made a choice in this household to do what is no longer expected of children in many households — we will ensure that there are days of ＂boredom＂. We refuse to spend our days scheduling our children’s every hour. There will be many days with no plans at all, when they will be sent outside with only the grass and the trees and their own imaginations to entertain them.

The screens will be turned off and our children will find that times of quiet can be just as or even more entertaining. They will bond with their brother and sister, making memories that they will replay in their minds well into adulthood. Even though sunscreen will be religiously applied, they will leave summer with sunburned and scratches coming from climbing trees, stomping through creeks and chasing the dog in the field.

This summer I will be giving my children the greatest gift of all — boredom. For inside boredom is the gift of getting to know your own mind, of finding comfort and joy in nature and in the realization that the greatest gifts are experience, not things.

1. From the first two paragraphs we can know that the author       .

A．participated in many organized activities

B．enjoyed an unscheduled vacation

C．explored magical forests and a violent river

D．realized the strength of patience

2. The author thinks today’s children’s activities are       .

A．less meaningful	B．less accessible
C．more related to nature	D．more in line with the nature of play

3. What is the real reason for children’s feeling of boredom?

A．Children are addicted to the Internet.

B．Children are limited to using electronics.

C．Children have no patience with everything.

D．Children lack the experience of exploring entertainment.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards his children’s childhood?

A．Sympathetic.

B．Envious.

C．Unsatisfied.

D．Indifferent.

5. What is the author’s purpose to ensure children the days of ＂boredom＂?

A．To keep children away from electronics.

B．To encourage children to climb trees and stomp through creeks.

C．To set aside more time to improve their academic performance.

D．To provide children with the opportunity to seek happiness in nature.

6. What might be the best title of the passage?

A．The gift of boredom	B．The memory of childhood
C．The attraction of nature	D．The experience of two generations